Unions to stage UK-wide protests

Brendan Barber will tell a rally in London that unions were at the heart of a powerful coalition against the cuts

Union activists will take part in a series of rallies and protests across the UK next year as part of a campaign against the Government's spending cuts.

The TUC has announced that a national demonstration will be held on March 26 in London's Hyde Park, predicting it will be the "biggest and boldest" event it had ever held.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber will tell a rally in London that unions were at the heart of a powerful coalition against the cuts, bringing together service users, charities and community groups.

"The union movement and the country face the sternest test in a generation. Not only is the economy on its knees, not only is the law tilted against us, but we have a Government in power that is making spending cuts of a speed, scale and savagery never before seen.

"On Wednesday we saw half a million public servants condemned to life on the dole, higher education funding cut by 40%, the education maintenance allowance for 16-19 year olds scrapped and local authorities compelled to slash services for the vulnerable.

"The spending review also dealt council housing a devastating blow, forced tenants to pay sky high rents, cut £350 million from legal aid, and hiked train fares well above inflation.

"As if all that wasn't bad enough, our welfare state is about to be ripped apart as a colossal £18 billion of cuts take hold. Universal child benefit axed, with 1.5 million children losing out, employment support allowance time-limited for many, working tax credit frozen, childcare support for low-income families slashed, the value of pensions trimmed year on year and people having to work longer in return for less.

"The bankers who caused this mess will not be affected at all because the pathetically small banking levy will leave them popping the champagne corks right across the Square Mile. The impact of this brutal, ideological and cripplingly unfair austerity will be truly devastating."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said: "We now know the full scale of the cuts that are being unleashed as this Government of millionaires wages all-out class war on the poorest in society and on working people the length and breadth of the UK.

"Today we start planning the fightback that will harness the anger that will be boiling up as people see in the raw what this bullying, brutal and vitriolic Government mean for them, their livelihoods and the public services that they rely on. Today's events will kickstart a tidal wave of protest."